I just took out the garbage (since sooooomebody forgot to do it before he abandoned me for the week!). There was a furry thing on top of the dumpster. A furry thing with a big fluffy ringed tail. "Geeet off of there! Go on!" It ran around the side of the dumpster, and I noticed two knawed corn cobs on the ground. I had to laugh, that's so classic it felt unreal. The raccoon peered down at me from the other corner of the dumpster. "Go on, get out of there!"

It's weird, as soon as I saw a raccoon, my brain went "careful it might be rabid". I think once in my life I have been in the same neighborhood as a rabid raccoon, but there was such a big to-do for awhile in my childhood about rabid raccoons being around, that it just always pops into my head.

This one was not. He ran away. And I have to say, as much as I know people dislike their pestiness... they are seriously freaking cute lil critters.

Labels: apartment, life in general, storytime

 
A new favorite rice recipe: Carrot Rice, a name which really totally fails to do it justice. Some butter-soaked onion, peanuts, ginger, and grated carrot. I added some raisins as well, and it's amazingly delicious (and cheap! I love delicious + cheap!).

Sometime soon, I am going to have to buy another semi-annual Giant Bag of Rice. I've finally gotten down to just what fits into a Tupperware cereal-saver bin.


Speaking of Tupperware! The party last night was actually pretty fun. Hosted by Sam, and Kate had her first time doing all the presenting (she's going to be an official Tupperware person, it looks like), Amanda (ex-PF crew) and Erin (PF crew), and a handful of Sam's female family members. My cupcakes were loved by anyone who tried them (thanks YET again, Heidi!). I spent a liiiittle more than I'd planned to, but I'm really happy about what I bought (plus, it helps Sam'n'Kate out).

I ordered a handful of basic oval containers for my poor overloaded cupboards, a couple of containers actually designed for the freezer (yay soup-making!), a container that I was promised will KEEP MY VEGGIES EDIBLE for more than two days. The veggie-keeper, I'm actually really psyched about - I was informed that it will actually keep bagged salad fresh for like a week, instead of the 1-2 days it usually survives once opened. Though Tupperware prices look steep at first glance... a) After like two weeks, the veggie thing will pay for itself. I'm miserable every week about how many veggies I have to throw out because they've gone bad before I could finish them up. b) Most of my Tupperware are hand-me-downs from my mom, and they still work beautifully. (Some beige lids are looking a little grubby after so many years, but that's purely cosmetic.) Tupperware is like on par with china, it's stuff you invest in for the life of your kitchen.

I also. got. SOMETHING TO CHOP ONIONS!!! The Tupperware Quick Chef. In like a minute, it made home fries out of three raw potatoes, with like no effort. It does not need to be plugged into anything. It has like three easily-washed pieces. It has a LID THAT CLOSES TIGHT and does not let onion fumes out. A liiittle pricey, but again, the lifetime thing. And the way my recipes have been going, I am going to get a LOT of use out of it. I've made a few salad dressings via Heidi lately, and they're insanely good, but using my blender to make them was pretty inefficient. Also, you can use a different attachment and do things like whip cream in this puppy. (Neither Kate nor her supervising sales rep could tell me if you can beat eggs to stiff peaks with it, buuuut, we shall see.) And make ice cream!!! So many amazing ice cream recipes I've seen this summer, and I've had nothing to make them with. This thing will do a soft-serve style, which is plenty fine by me.

...wow. I did not mean to go on so long about it. lmao. If I knew enough people around here, I probably could have signed up to host a party. Buuuut, everyone I know is PF crew, and they've had three parties to choose from in the last month already. I think it's pretty well overkilled.

After all the ordering was done, and most family filtered away, Amanda and her mom hung out and talked with Sam and I awhile, then Kate and Sam talked shop with me putting in my two cents now and again. It was actually kind of nice. I suppose it's good for me to get out and talk kitchen with other women now and again. (Tom.. is totally underwhelmed by the Tupperware thing. He thought I was totally nuts when I told him about it.)


In other news, now that Tom's down in NC, he's thinking about staying an extra day or two. His dad's knee is in pretty rough shape (surgery is going to happen in the near future), and, it sounds like he's pretty lonely down there. This is just as well for me - I polished off any potential remaining food-budget for the week at the Tupperware party, and Tom gets tired of rice pretty quickly. ;p

Labels: being social, cooking, life in general, product whoring

 
Music nerd folks! Check out In C Remixed. If you're familiar with the Official Classic Piece "In C" (aka, the song where each instrument is given a bar or two to play over and over, at whatever tempo and durations you feel like), you, like me, will find this a much pleasanter sounding way to ingest the random beauty of the thing. If you're not familiar with it, the remixes are still pretty gorgeous. Make sure to snag the free download of "Zinc" by Zoe Keating. I like it so much that I nosed around to find her album, and put it on my wishlist.

In other news, Tom left for his trip to North Carolina to visit his dad and grandma this morning. We ran through a checklist before he left: phone, phone charger, laptop, laptop charger, shower stuff, deodorant, clothes. I gave him a stack of change for tolls, an ice-cold bottle of water, and some... well, they're rice cakes, only not-rice cakes. Kamut, stuck together with agave nectar. (Yes, I habitually buy even-healthier versions of health food. But these are freaking delicious.)

Fifteen minutes later, there's a frantic pounding on my front door.

"Give me keys to my car! - I locked my keys in the car when I went to get gas - someone was nice enough to give me a ride back - but I didn't have your phone number because my phone was in the car too - I need keys."

Laughing, I disentangled my set of car keys from my ring, and gave to him. He sped back out again. I posted this on twitter, and continued my morning internetting.

Ten minutes later, I hear the back screen door swing open, and speedwalking clunking footsteps. "NOW what'd you forget???" "Shut up! Headphones! ... ... ...stop laughing at me!"

I'm still giggling, an hour later - though I do really hope he's actually on his way now. ;) He's always such an insane control freak about traveling (as noted in a previous post about hotel reservations), and I'm always the spazz who suddenly remembers things as soon as we pull out. This is such a lovely little bit of "HA! YOU DO IT TOO!" bwahaha.

Labels: music, product whoring, silliness, storytime, travel